Author: Nina Bogdan, Before We Disappear into Oblivion

Author Nina Bogdan discusses her new book, Before We Disappear into Oblivion: San Francisco’s Russian Diaspora from Revolution to Cold War.

Before We Disappear into Oblivion is a book by historian Nina Bogdan that tells the story of Russians who fled to California after the 1917 Russian Revolution and Civil War. Many ended up in San Francisco and northern California, where they worked to build new lives and communities.

Bogdan challenges the common idea that all Russian immigrants were wealthy exiles. Instead, she shows that they came from many different backgrounds, had different political views, and came from various parts of Russia. She also highlights the historic Russian presence in northern California—especially Fort Ross—and explains how these earlier connections helped the new immigrants shape their identity as Russian Americans.

Using Russian and English language sources, including government records, Bogdan traces how some of these immigrants became part of the American middle class while others didn’t. The book also looks at how big events like the Great Depression, World War II, McCarthyism, and the Cold War affected this group. It explores how being "American" often meant fitting into a racial category, which complicated immigrants’ efforts to Americanize as they felt forced to hide or change their ethnic and cultural identity.